Dr. Shaimaa Lazem

Dr. Shaimaa Lazem earned the 2026 SIGCHI Special Recognition Award, acknowledging her as a primary architect and bridge-builder between the international human-computer interaction community and the emerging research ecosystems of the Arab world and Africa. Her research on human-centered AI in Africa is supported by Google Awards for Inclusion Research (2020, 2021, and 2025) in partnership with colleagues from Namibia and the UAE. This award within the last year recognises her unique role as a bicultural ambassador and her leadership in co-founding ArabHCI and guiding AfriCHI.